We've been hearing for sometime about Microsoft's forthcoming Cortana assistant, set to arrive in Windows Phone 8.1. Here's a video that appears to show the new Siri-clone in action. And it looks pretty damn good.

The video illustrates much of what's been rumored: Cortana is a truly personal personal assistant, asking about your interests, tastes, and preferences. Indeed, it's increasingly looking like Cortana will be a neat combination of both Siri and Google Now, an assistant that will both go fetch what you ask for, and predict what you want before you know you want it. Of course, for whatever reason, the demo video doesn't show Cortana actually doing anything, which is too bad, But it's a nice glimpse of what Microsoft is getting ready to do. Also, the sound Cortana makes when activated is really satisfying. [Verge]